A Little Time Off

Our semester is coming to a close. Next week is spring break, and after that there is only one more week of classes before finals begin. We have seen so many changes this year and we are very excited for what is going to happen next year. Our membership is growing, our programs are becoming larger and larger, and our audiences are getting bigger and bigger.

If there was ever time for a “green revolution” it is now. With the recession stagnating and natural disasters wrecking havoc on the world, it’s time that we start thinking about more sustainable, safer, and environmentally friendly ways of living. That’s our greater goal. To develop these ideas and share them with our peers, not just so that our campus becomes more sustainable, but that our lives become more sustainable. At the Capital District Student Sustainability Conference that we hosted two weeks ago, we heard many people speak about the implications of our technological advances. Professor Gary Kleppel spoke about the dangers of industrial farming, and revealed just how many dangerous chemicals and hormones we are putting into our bodies. Scott Kellogg of The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center discussed with us how unsustainable urban living leads to more and more urban decay, and that when the time comes when we can no longer rely on the corporate, industrial supply chain that supports us now, how helpless we will be. Education and implementation are radically important at this moment.

Sustainable living is what will prevent a complete collapse of society as we know it. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in the next 50 years. But we have to start now, otherwise we will continue to damage the Earth beyond recognition, beyond sustainable levels.

As we approach next year, we want to focus on these ideas, educate and implement in ways that are easily translatable into our everyday lives. Going forward, we hope to report back that our mission is successful, that we are doing all we can to change the way we live.